How Technology is Changing the Beverage Industry

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The beverage industry spills over with ways to wet your whistle. For the discerning customer there’s more choice available than ever before. The explosion of craft beers, the never-ending range of sodas and rise in popularity of energy drinks has seen consumption and profit surge over the last decade, in spite of harsh economics.

Technology has enabled this thirst-quenching journey. How? Pour yourself a tall glass and settle in.

Brewer’s soup

The food and beverage industry are determined to reduce waste. Environmental concern is high on the agenda and priority number one in production. One way an innovative brewer has addressed this is to turn waste into power. Colorado’s Avery Brewing has developed a method of turning their beer run-off into fuel for lithium-ion batteries. Collating their weakened wort that can’t be turned into beer during the process, the brewery worked with local researchers to deliver the fluid in lieu of expensive and wasteful drainage. A pint that packs power? That’s progress.


Bespoke beer by the brewery load

Brewing the perfect pint is something Mystic Brewery knows all about. This beverage manufacturer was brought to fruition by none other than a fermentation scientist in 2009. As such, they’re a brewery that is particularly particular about their product.

The emergent craft beer market is big business. Consumers are increasingly avoiding cookie cutter uniformity in search of more individual and angular tastes. As such the demand for drinks that cater to a more refined palate is soaring.

Key to Mystic Brewery products’ unique hoppy taste is the fermentation process. The team built and designed their distilleries and automated bottling with SOLIDWORKS 3D CAD software. Ever the perfectionists, Mystic Brewery were able to tweak their designs in the software, making sure their final product attained its distinctive flavour once brewed.

With pin-sharp precision and accurate stress-testing, the craft beer makers were able to cut down packaging times exponentially with an automated bottling system created right there in SOLIDWORKS. Through its ease of use and reduced cost in manufacturing, SOLIDWORKS brought large-scale ambition to small-scale production.


Bioplastic fantastic

It’s not just alcohol that’s leading the tech front either. With the furore over disposable cup refuse, Smart Cups thinks it has the perfect answer. Made from bioplastic that degrades, Smart Cup drinks are lined with printed flavour that dissolves with water, providing the drinker with an instant beverage to quaff on the go – and no waste. It doesn’t even need stirring! From coffee to juice drinks and flavour-packed energy boosts, the company boasts it can turn its cup to anything.


Supplying the sup

The manufacturing of the drinks isn’t the only thing taking the industry to the next evolutionary stage, so is the packaging Smart labelling that stores more than just nutritional details, but end-to-end supply chain information, making identification and recalls swifter and more secure than ever before. As well as product information and source of manufacture, drinks companies are keener than ever to engage and inspire brand loyalty with their consumers, with innovations that connect with your mobile phone. Diet Coke with no sugar but added connectivity? It’s just around the corner.


Raise a glass to the future…

The diverse world of the modern beverage industry has just started its next phase into quenching thirst. We’ll raise a glass to that.

 

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SOLIDWORKS UK

SOLIDWORKS UK

Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corp. offers complete 3D software tools that let you create, simulate, publish, and manage your data. SolidWorks products are easy to learn and use, and work together to help you design products better, faster, and more cost-effectively. The SolidWorks focus on ease-of-use allows more engineers, designers and other technology professionals than ever before to take advantage of 3D in bringing their designs to life.